The present invention relates to bispecific antibodies against human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF/VEGF-A) and human angiopoietin-2 (ANG-2), methods for their production, pharmaceutical compositions containing said antibodies, and uses thereof.
Angiogenesis is implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of disorders which include solid tumors, intraocular neovascular syndromes such as proliferative retinopathies or age-related macular degeneration (AMD), rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis (Folkman, J., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267 (1992) 10931-10934; Klagsbrun, M., et al., Annu. Rev. Physiol. 53 (1991) 217-239; and Garner, A., Vascular diseases, in: Pathobiology of ocular disease, A dynamic approach, Garner, A., and Klintworth, G. K. (eds.), 2nd edition, Marcel Dekker, New York (1994), pp 1625-1710). In the case of solid tumors, the neovascularization allows the tumor cells to acquire a growth advantage and proliferative autonomy compared to the normal cells. Accordingly, a correlation has been observed between density of microvessels in tumor sections and patient survival in breast cancer as well as in several other tumors (Weidner, N., et al., N Engl J. Med. 324 (1991) 1-8; Horak, E. R., et al., Lancet 340 (1992) 1120-1124; and Macchiarini, P., et al., Lancet 340 (1992) 145-146).
VEGF and Anti-VEGF Antibodies
Human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF/VEGF-A) (SEQ ID No: 105) is described in e.g. Leung, D. W., et al., Science 246 (1989) 1306-9; Keck, P. J., et al., Science 246 (1989) 1309-12 and Connolly, D. T., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 264 (1989) 20017-24. VEGF is involved in the regulation of normal and abnormal angiogenesis and neovascularization associated with tumors and intraocular disorders (Ferrara, N., et al., Endocr. Rev. 18 (1997) 4-25; Berkman, R. A., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 91 (1993) 153-159; Brown, L. F., et al., Human Pathol. 26 (1995) 86-91; Brown, L. F., et al., Cancer Res. 53 (1993) 4727-4735; Mattern, J., et al., Brit. J. Cancer. 73 (1996) 931-934; and Dvorak, H., et al., Am. J. Pathol. 146 (1995) 1029-1039). VEGF is a homodimeric glycoprotein that has been isolated from several sources. VEGF shows highly specific mitogenic activity for endothelial cells. VEGF has important regulatory functions in the formation of new blood vessels during embryonic vasculogenesis and in angiogenesis during adult life (Carmeliet, P., et al., Nature, 380 (1996) 435-439; Ferrara, N., et al., Nature, 380 (1996) 439-442; reviewed in Ferrara and Davis-Smyth, Endocrine Rev., 18 (1997) 4-25. The significance of the role played by VEGF has been demonstrated in studies showing that inactivation of a single VEGF allele results in embryonic lethality due to failed development of the vasculature (Carmeliet, P., et al., Nature, 380 (1996) 435-439; Ferrara, N., et al., Nature, 380 (1996) 439-442. In addition VEGF has strong chemoattractant activity towards monocytes, can induce the plasminogen activator and the plasminogen activator inhibitor in endothelial cells, and can also induce microvascular permeability. Because of the latter activity, it is sometimes referred to as vascular permeability factor (VPF). The isolation and properties of VEGF have been reviewed; see Ferrara, N., et al., J. Cellular Biochem., 47 (1991) 211-218 and Connolly, J. Cellular Biochem., 47 (1991) 219-223. Alternative mRNA splicing of a single VEGF gene gives rise to five isoforms of VEGF.
Anti-VEGF neutralizing antibodies suppress the growth of a variety of human tumor cell lines in mice (Kim, I., et al., Nature 362 (1993) 841-844; Warren, S. R., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 95 (1995) 1789-1797; Borgstrom, P., et al., Cancer Res. 56 (1996) 4032-4039; and Melnyk, O., et al., Cancer Res. 56 (1996) 921-924). WO 94/10202, WO 98/45332, WO 2005/00900 and WO 00/35956 refer to antibodies against VEGF. Humanized monoclonal antibody bevacizumab (sold under the trade name Avastin®) is an anti-VEGF antibody used in tumor therapy WO 98/45331).
Ranibizumab (trade name Lucentis®) is a monoclonal antibody fragment derived from the same parent murine antibody as bevacizumab. It is much smaller than the parent molecule and has been affinity matured to provide stronger binding to VEGF-A (WO 98/45331). It is an anti-angiogenic that has been approved to treat the “wet” type of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), a common form of age-related vision loss. Another anti-VEGF antibody is e.g. HuMab G6-31 described e.g. in US 2007/0141065.
ANG-2 and Anti-ANG-2 Antibodies
Human angiopoietin-2 (ANG-2) (alternatively abbreviated with ANGPT2 or ANG2) (SEQ ID No: 106) is described in Maisonpierre, P. C., et al, Science 277 (1997) 55-60 and Cheung, A. H., et al., Genomics 48 (1998) 389-91. The angiopoietins-1 and -2 (ANG-1 (SEQ ID No: 107) and ANG-2 (SEQ ID No: 106)) were discovered as ligands for Ties, a family of tyrosine kinases that is selectively expressed within the vascular endothelium. Yancopoulos, G. D., et al., Nature 407 (2000) 242-48. There are now four definitive members of the angiopoietin family. Angiopoietin-3 and -4 (ANG-3 and ANG-4) may represent widely diverged counterparts of the same gene locus in mouse and man. Kim, I., et al., FEBS Let, 443 (1999) 353-56; Kim, I., et al., J Biol Chem 274 (1999) 26523-28. ANG-1 and ANG-2 were originally identified in tissue culture experiments as agonist and antagonist, respectively (see for ANG-1: Davis, S., et al., Cell 87 (1996) 1161-69; and for ANG-2: Maisonpierre, P. C., et al., Science 277 (1997) 55-60). All of the known angiopoietins bind primarily to Tie2, and both ANG-1 and -2 bind to Tie2 with an affinity of 3 nM (KD). Maisonpierre, P. C., et al., Science 277 (1997) 55-60. ANG-1 was shown to support EC survival and to promote endothelium integrity, Davis, S., et al., Cell 87 (1996) 1161-69; Kwak, H. J., et al., FEBS Lett 448 (1999) 249-53; Suri, C., et al., Science 282 (1998) 468-71; Thurston, G., et al., Science 286 (1999) 251 1-14; Thurston, G., et al., Nat. Med. 6 (2000) 460-63, whereas ANG-2 had the opposite effect and promoted blood vessel destabilization and regression in the absence of the survival factors VEGF or basic fibroblast growth factor. Maisonpierre, P. C., et al., Science 277 (1997) 55-60. However, many studies of ANG-2 function have suggested a more complex situation. ANG-2 might be a complex regulator of vascular remodeling that plays a role in both vessel sprouting and vessel regression. Supporting such roles for ANG-2, expression analysis reveals that ANG-2 is rapidly induced, together with VEGF, in adult settings of angiogenic sprouting, whereas ANG-2 is induced in the absence of VEGF in settings of vascular regression. Holash, J., et al., Science 284 (1999) 1994-98; Holash, J., et al., Oncogene 18 (1999) 5356-62. Consistent with a context-dependent role, ANG-2 specifically binds to the same endothelial-specific receptor, Tie-2, which is activated by ANG-1, but has context-dependent effects on its activation. Maisonpierre, P. C., et al., Science 277 (1997) 55-60.
Corneal angiogenesis assays have shown that both ANG-1 and ANG-2 had similar effects, acting synergistically with VEGF to promote growth of new blood vessels. Asahara, T., et al., Circ. Res. 83 (1998) 233-40. The possibility that there was a dose-dependent endothelial response was raised by the observation that, in vitro at high concentration, ANG-2 can also be pro-angiogenic. Kim, I., et al., Oncogene 19 (2000) 4549-52. At high concentration, ANG-2 acts as an apoptosis survival factor for endothelial cells during serum deprivation apoptosis through activation of Tie2 via PI-3 Kinase and Akt pathway. Kim, I., et al., Oncogene 19 (2000) 4549-52.
Other in vitro experiments suggested that, during sustained exposure, the effects of ANG-2 may progressively shift from that of an antagonist to an agonist of Tie2, and, at later time points, it may contribute directly to vascular tube formation and neovessel stabilization. Teichert-Kuliszewska, K., et al., Cardiovasc. Res. 49 (2001) 659-70. Furthermore, if ECs were cultivated on fibrin gel, activation of Tie2 with ANG-2 was also observed, perhaps suggesting that the action of ANG-2 could depend on EC differentiation state. Teichert-Kuliszewska, K., et al., Cardiovasc. Res. 49 (2001) 659-70. In microvascular EC cultured in a three-dimensional collagen gel, ANG-2 can also induce Tie2 activation and promote formation of capillary-like structures. Mochizuki, Y., et al., J. Cell. Sci. 115 (2002) 175-83. Use of a 3-D spheroidal coculture as an in-vitro model of vessel maturation demonstrated that direct contact between ECs and mesenchymal cells abrogates responsiveness to VEGF, whereas the presence of VEGF and ANG-2 induced sprouting. Korff, T., et al., Faseb J. 15 (2001) 447-57. Etoh, T. H. et al. demonstrated that ECs that constitutively express Tie2, the expression of MMP-1, -9 and u-PA were strongly upregulated by ANG-2 in the presence of VEGF. Etoh, T., et al., Cancer Res. 61 (2001) 2145-53. With an in vivo pupillary membrane model, Lobov, I. B. et al. showed that ANG-2 in the presence of endogenous VEGF promotes a rapid increase in capillary diameter, remodeling of the basal lamina, proliferation and migration of endothelial cells, and stimulates sprouting of new blood vessels. Lobov, I. B., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99 (2002) 11205-10. By contrast, ANG-2 promotes endothelial cell death and vessel regression without endogenous VEGF. Lobov, I. B., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99 (2002) 11205-10. Similarly, with an in vivo tumor model, Vajkoczy, P., et al. demonstrated that multicellular aggregates initiate vascular growth by angiogenic sprouting via the simultaneous expression of VEGFR-2 and ANG-2 by host and tumor endothelium. Vajkoczy, P., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 109 (2002) 777-85. This model illustrated that the established microvasculature of growing tumors is characterized by a continuous remodeling, putatively mediated by the expression of VEGF and ANG-2. Vajkoczy, P., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 09 (2002) 777-85.
Knock-out mouse studies of Tie-2 and Angiopoietin-1 show similar phenotypes and suggest that Angiopoietin-1 stimulated Tie-2 phosphorylation mediates remodeling and stabilization of developing vessel, promoting blood vessel maturation during angiogenesis and maintenance of endothelial cell-support cell adhesion (Dumont, J., et al., Genes & Development, 8 (1994) 1897-1909; Sato, T. N., Nature, 376 (1995) 70-74; (Thurston, G., et al., Nature Medicine: 6 (2000) 460-463). The role of Angiopoietin-1 is thought to be conserved in the adult, where it is expressed widely and constitutively (Hanahan, D., Science, 277 (1997) 48-50; Zagzag, D., et al., Exp Neurology, 159:391-400 (1999)). In contrast, Angiopoietin-2 expression is primarily limited to sites of vascular remodeling where it is thought to block the constitutive stabilizing or maturing function of Angiopoietin-1, allowing vessels to revert to, and remain in, a plastic state which may be more responsive to sprouting signals (Hanahan, D., 1997; Holash, J., et al., Orzcogerze 18 (199) 5356-62; Maisonpierre, P. C., 1997). Studies of Angiopoietin-2 expression in pathological angiogenesis have found many tumor types to show vascular Angiopoietin-2 expression (Maisonpierre, P. C., et al., Science 277 (1997) 55-60). Functional studies suggest Angiopoietin-2 is involved in tumor angiogenesis and associate Angiopoietin-2 overexpression with increased tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model (Ahmad, S. A., et al., Cancer Res., 61 (2001) 1255-1259). Other studies have associated Angiopoietin-2 overexpression with tumor hypervascularity (Etoh, T., et al., Cancer Res. 61 (2001) 2145-53; Tanaka, F., et al., Cancer Res. 62 (2002) 124-29).
In recent years Angiopoietin-1, Angiopoietin-2 and/or Tie-2 have been proposed as possible anti-cancer therapeutic targets. For example U.S. Pat. No. 6,166,185, U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,490 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,814,464 each disclose anti-Tie-2 ligand and receptor antibodies. Studies using soluble Tie-2 were reported to decrease the number and size of tumors in rodents (Lin, 1997; Lin 1998). Siemester, G., et al. Siemeister, G., et al., Cancer Res. 59 (1999) 3185-91 generated human melanoma cell lines expressing the extracellular domain of Tie-2, injected these into nude mice and reported soluble Tie-2 to result in significant inhibition of tumor growth and tumor angiogenesis. Given that both Angiopoietin-1 and Angiopoietin-2 bind to Tie-2, it is unclear from these studies whether Angiopoietin-1, Angiopoietin-2 or Tie-2 would be an attractive target for anti-cancer therapy. However, effective anti-Angiopoietin-2 therapy is thought to be of benefit in treating diseases such as cancer, in which progression is dependant on aberrant angiogenesis where blocking the process can lead to prevention of disease advancement (Follunan, J., Nature Medicine. 1 (1995) 27-31).
In addition some groups have reported the use of antibodies and peptides that bind to Angiopoietin-2. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,166,185 and US 2003/10124129. WO 03/030833, WO 2006/068953, WO 03/057134 or US 2006/0122370.
Study of the effect of focal expression of Angiopoietin-2 has shown that antagonizing the Angiopoietin-1/Tie-2 signal loosens the tight vascular structure thereby exposing ECs to activating signals from angiogenesis inducers, e.g. VEGF (Hanahan, D., Science, 277 (1997) 48-50). This pro-angiogenic effect resulting from inhibition of Angiopoietin-1 indicates that anti-Angiopoietin-1 therapy would not be an effective anti-cancer treatment.
ANG-2 is expressed during development at sites where blood vessel remodeling is occurring. Maisonpierre, P. C., et al., Science 277 (1997) 55-60. In adult individuals, ANG-2 expression is restricted to sites of vascular remodeling as well as in highly vascularized tumors, including glioma, Osada, H., et al., Int. J. Oncol. 18 (2001) 305-09); Koga, K., et al., Cancer Res. 61 (2001) 6248-54, hepatocellular carcinoma, Tanaka, S., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 103 (1999) 341-45, gastric carcinoma, Etoh, T., et al., Cancer Res. 61 (2001) 2145-53; Lee, J. H., et al., Int. J. Oncol. 18 (2001) 355-61, thyroid tumor, Bunone, G., et al., Am J Pathol 155 (1999) 1967-76 non-small cell lung cancer, Wong, M. P., et al., Lung Cancer 29 (2000) 11-22, and cancer of colon, Ahmad, S. A., et al., Cancer 92 (2001) 1138-43, and prostate Wurmbach, J. H., et al., Anticancer Res. 20 (2000) 5217-20. Some tumor cells are found to express ANG-2. For example, Tanaka, S., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 103 (1999) 341-45 detected ANG-2 mRNA in 10 out of 12 specimens of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Ellis' group reported that ANG-2 is expressed ubiquitously in tumor epithelium. Ahmad, S. A., et al., Cancer 92 (2001) 1138-43. Other investigators reported similar findings. Chen, L., et al., J. Tongji Med. Univ. 21 (2001) 228-35. By detecting ANG-2 mRNA levels in archived human breast cancer specimens, Sfiligoi, C., et al., Int. J. Cancer 103 (2003) 466-74 reported that ANG-2 mRNA is significantly associated with auxiliary lymph node invasion, short disease-free time and poor overall survival. Tanaka, F., et al., Cancer Res. 62 (2002) 7124-29 reviewed a total of 236 patients of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with pathological stage-I to -IIIA, respectively. Using immunohistochemistry, they found that 16.9% of the NSCLC patients were ANG-2 positive. The microvessel density for ANG-2 positive tumor is significantly higher than that of ANG-2 negative. Such an angiogenic effect of ANG-2 was seen only when VEGF expression was high. Moreover, positive expression of ANG-2 was a significant factor to predict a poor postoperative survival. Tanaka, F., et al., Cancer Res. 62 (2002) 7124-29. However, they found no significant correlation between Ang-1 expression and the microvessel density. Tanaka, F., et al., Cancer Res. 62 (2002) 7124-29. These results suggest that ANG-2 is an indicator of poor prognosis patients with several types of cancer.
Recently, using an ANG-2 knockout mouse model, Yancopoulos' group reported that ANG-2 is required for postnatal angiogenesis. Gale, N. W., et al., Dev. Cell 3 (2002) 411-23. They showed that the developmentally programmed regression of the hyaloid vasculature in the eye does not occur in the ANG-2 knockout mice and their retinal blood vessels fail to sprout out from the central retinal artery. Gale, N. W., et al., Dev. Cell 3 (2002) 411-23. They also found that deletion of ANG-2 results in profound defects in the patterning and function of the lymphatic vasculature. Gale, N. W., et al., Dev. Cell 3 (200) 411-23. Genetic rescue with Ang-1 corrects the lymphatic, but not the angiogenesis defects. Gale, N. W., et al., Dev. Cell 3 (2002) 411-23.
Peters and his colleagues reported that soluble Tie2, when delivered either as recombinant protein or in a viral expression vector, inhibited in vivo growth of murine mammary carcinoma and melanoma in mouse models. Lin, P., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95 (1998) 8829-34; Lin, P., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 100 (1997) 2072-78. Vascular densities in the tumor tissues so treated were greatly reduced. In addition, soluble Tie2 blocked angiogenesis in the rat corneal stimulated by tumor cell conditioned media. Lin, P., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 100 (1997) 2072-78. Furthermore, Isner and his team demonstrated that addition of ANG-2 to VEGF promoted significantly longer and more circumferential neovascularity than VEGF alone. Asahara, T., et al., Circ. Res. 83 (1998) 233-40. Excess soluble Tie2 receptor precluded modulation of VEGF-induced neovascularization by ANG-2. Asahara, T., et al., Circ. Res. 83 (1998) 233-40. Siemeister, G., et al., Cancer Res. 59 (1999) 3185-91 showed with nude mouse xenografts that overexpression of the extracellular ligand-binding domains of either Flt-1 or Tie2 in the xenografts results in significant inhibition of pathway could not be compensated by the other one, suggesting that the VEGF receptor pathway and the Tie2 pathway should be considered as two independent mediators essential for the process of in vivo angiogenesis. Siemeister, G., et al., Cancer Res. 59:3 (1999) 3185-91. This is proven by a more recent publication by White, R., R., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100 (2003) 5028-33. In their study, it was demonstrated that a nuclease-resistant RNA aptamer that specifically binds and inhibits ANG-2 significantly inhibited neovascularization induced by bFGF in the rat corneal micropocket angiogenesis model.
Bispecific Antibodies
A wide variety of recombinant antibody formats have been developed in the recent past, e.g. tetravalent bispecific antibodies by fusion of, e.g., an IgG antibody format and single chain domains (see e.g. Coloma, M. J., et al., Nature Biotech 15 (1997) 159-163; WO 2001/077342; and Morrison, S. L., Nature Biotech 25 (2007) 1233-1234).
Also several other new formats wherein the antibody core structure (IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG or IgM) is no longer retained such as dia-, tria- or tetrabodies, minibodies, several single chain formats (scFv, Bis-scFv), which are capable of binding two or more antigens, have been developed (Holliger, P., et al., Nature Biotech 23 (2005) 1126-1136; Fischer, N., Léger, O., Pathobiology 74 (2007) 3-14; Sheni, J., et al., Journal of Immunological Methods 318 (2007) 65-74; Wu, C., et al., Nature Biotech. 25 (2007) 1290-1297).
All such formats use linkers either to fuse the antibody core (IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG or IgM) to a further binding protein (e.g. scFv) or to fuse e.g. two Fab fragments or scFvs (Fischer, N., Léger, O., Pathobiology 74 (2007) 3-14). It has to be kept in mind that one may want to retain effector functions, such as e.g. complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) or antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), which are mediated through the Fc receptor binding, by maintaining a high degree of similarity to naturally occurring antibodies.
In WO 2007/024715 are reported dual variable domain immunoglobulins as engineered multivalent and multispecific binding proteins. A process for the preparation of biologically active antibody dimers is reported in U.S. Pat. No. 6,897,044. Multivalent FV antibody construct having at least four variable domains which are linked with each over via peptide linkers are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 7,129,330. Dimeric and multimeric antigen binding structures are reported in US 2005/0079170. Tri- or tetra-valent monospecific antigen-binding protein comprising three or four Fab fragments bound to each other covalently by a connecting structure, which protein is not a natural immunoglobulin are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,663. In WO 2006/020258 tetravalent bispecific antibodies are reported that can be efficiently expressed in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and are useful in therapeutic and diagnostic methods. A method of separating or preferentially synthesizing dimers which are linked via at least one interchain disulfide linkage from dimers which are not linked via at least one interchain disulfide linkage from a mixture comprising the two types of polypeptide dimers is reported in US 2005/0163782. Bispecific tetravalent receptors are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,083. Engineered antibodies with three or more functional antigen binding sites are reported in WO 2001/077342.
Multispecific and multivalent antigen-binding polypeptides are reported in WO 1997/001580. WO 1992/004053 reports homoconjugates, typically prepared from monoclonal antibodies of the IgG class which bind to the same antigenic determinant are covalently linked by synthetic cross-linking Oligomeric monoclonal antibodies with high avidity for antigen are reported in WO 1991/06305 whereby the oligomers, typically of the IgG class, are secreted having two or more immunoglobulin monomers associated together to form tetravalent or hexavalent IgG molecules. Sheep-derived antibodies and engineered antibody constructs are reported in U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,860, which can be used to treat diseases wherein interferon gamma activity is pathogenic. In US 2005/0100543 are reported targetable constructs that are multivalent carriers of bi-specific antibodies, i.e., each molecule of a targetable construct can serve as a carrier of two or more bi-specific antibodies. Genetically engineered bispecific tetravalent antibodies are reported in WO 1995/009917. In WO 2007/109254 stabilized binding molecules that consist of or comprise a stabilized scFv are reported.
Combination of VEGF and ANG-2 Inhibitors
WO 2007/068895 refers to a combination of an ANG-2 antagonist and a VEGF, KDR and/or FLTL antagonists. WO 2007/089445 refers to ANG-2 and VEGF inhibitor combinations.
WO 2003/106501 refers to fusion proteins binding to Angiopoetin and containing a multimerization domain. WO 2008/132568 fusion proteins binding to Angiopoetin and VEGF.